Ro Khanna, Row, You've Been Undercounted

“97 Members of Congress Reported Stock Trades in Companies Influenced by Their Committees”—headline in The New York Times, ‘The Upshot.’ (September 15, 2022)

A very good piece, the kind of reporting much needed in this Era of Monetizing Policy Through the Monetization of Everything that Yields (EMPTY): a thorough analysis of the stock portfolios of members of Congress—senators and representatives—and how their holdings ‘intersected with specific congressional committees and subcommittees’, identifying ‘committees’ that oversee areas of public policy vital to the companies’ business’ and ‘those that oversee or fund federal agencies that gave the companies significant contracts.’

Pretty even split between Republicans and Democrats. One lone Independent, Angus King, Senator, Maine. The general range was between 1-10 possible conflicts of interest for each member of congress named. Almost every state in the union was represented.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, was excused from such scrutiny, though her husband Paul bought and sold $25 to $81 million worth of stock, options and other financial assets between 2019 and 2021. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, whose wife Elaine Chao once served as the secretary of labor and transportation in the Trump administration, bought or sold shares in companies in three different industries during her time with Don. Thank you for your service, Elaine.

Ro Khanna, D-California was the winner by a longshot, posting trades in 879 companies with 149 potential conflicts.

*Disclaimer at the end of the piece: “The Times did not include trades in municipal bonds, mutual funds or index funds. Furthermore, ”The Times could not account for every committee that affects each company; as a result, the analysis is surely an undercount.”